Jackies Jungle

The smoky tavern and the cool pleasure of lighting up a menthol cigarette are now just a sweet memory in Chicago and several other states that have decided to take part in the smoking ban in hopes of a smoke free America. To help the push for a smoke free America and to help smokers quit the government has severely raised the price of taxes placed on cigarettes in some areas. Tim Harford, the undercover economist from slate.com wrote an article on May 17, 2008 debating the issue of the inflated cigarette prices. He debates both sides discussing whether or not “high cigarette prices make smokers happier?”(Hartford 1).

Tim Hartford believes that yes, according to a study conducted with U.S. and Canadian data sets, by Jonathan Gruber and Sendhil Mullainathan it was concluded that, “where cigarette taxes rise, ‘potential smokers’-the people whose age, class, income and domestic circumstances suggest that they are likely to smoke- are happier”(2). He debates supportive arguments against smoking with emphasis on the health concerns with smoking. The reasons for smoking which he believes might be purely that smokers are irrational or puppets of the tobacco industry and after some elaborate suggestions the conclusion was “expensive cigarettes can indeed be a blessing” (1).

Cigarette prices increasing should make smokers happier according to Hartford. He states that “certainly, higher cigarette prices would make smokers healthier” (1) considering all the evidence that smoking is bad for your health. He assumes that since all smokers are aware of these health risks smokers “would like to quit but keep valuing the short-term bliss of the nicotine hit” (1). That is also why Hartford feels that for smokers who are having a hard time quitting, “then the higher prices might make them happier by encouraging them to smoke less or even to stop entirely” (1).

The only things that are certain include the fact that smoking is very bad for you. Hartford’s reference to Kevin Murphy and Nobel laureate Gary Becker’s, ‘rational addiction theory’ which argues that “people weigh the health risks of smoking, the possible social and psychological benefits, and the fact that it is habit-forming before deciding whether to light up” (1). The fact, “that there is nothing necessarily irrational about deciding to embark on a course of action that many find enjoyable but painful to reverse” (1). The example used to proof this was marriage and how many find marriage enjoyable but it is indeed painful to reverse. Hartford also classifies some smokers as “rational and temptation wracked” (1) but he fails to make the connection between the data that supports the statement that “we know that smokers respond to signal prices by smoking less” with those same smokers who are temptation wracked.

Sadly it is felt that the undercover economist did not present a very convincing argument. Hartford does supply his readers with several sources and references that can all be verified which at first glance might make the reader feel that he has a valid point. However, Hartford did not consider real smokers. Real smokers do not want to quit smoking regardless of the health risks. Higher prices might make the data in that city seem as if people are buying fewer cigarettes but in reality smokers are just driving further for their cigarettes, to locations that have not increased the taxes quit so drastically. The taxes placed on cigarettes in Chicago have been inflated so much that the price of the tax is more than the price of one pack in rural areas. The amount of money one can save by traveling is so great that there are in fact enough smokers traveling for their pleasure who could be altering plenty of data. The only ones happy about the inflated taxes on cigarettes are the government officials profiting from the taxes.

Works Cited

Hartford, Tim. “Why Smoker are Happier When Cigarettes Cost More.” Slate. 17 May 2008. 22 May-June 2008 <http://www.slate.com>.

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